The Girls of Inuyasha: Kikyo

Fair warning! For those of you who have only seen the anime version of Inuyasha, or only read the translated volumes currently available in the bookstores, in the U.S., this will likely contain some spoilers. If that doesn't bother you, please, read on.

We see lots of girls in this manga title. Most of them are just village girls who make a brief appearance and then they're gone. That still leaves a lot of pretty girls who are significant to the story; for an episode, as recurring characters, or throughout the bulk of the story. Kikyo is the first one we meet, but her true story is given to us in small pieces over a long period of time. No, really! The norm is, I think, one episode per week, and I just saw episode 550 translated on-line. That's roughly ten-and-a-half years and I know that there are some weeks when there is no episode published. Kikyo's story has stretched out over most of those 10+ years.

We first see her in the first scene of the first episode. Inuyasha has just stolen the magic jewel, the Shikon No Tama, and Kikyo shoots him with an arrow, pinning him to a sacred tree. Because she is a powerful priestess, this is more than just an arrow, it's a spell and it binds Inuyasha to the tree in a death-like state. It holds him there for fifty years, until another girl releases him. After saving the jewel, Kikyo instructs her younger sister to burn the jewel with her body (Kikyo's body, that is) and then Kikyo dies. End of story, right? No, she is later brought back to life by an evil witch, but we'll get to that later.

Kikyo is a very pretty woman who is, in my guesstimation, about twenty years old at her death. She has a much younger sister, but we don't see her parents at all, so I assume that they have died some time before the story begins. She is very calm and mature, and she takes her responsibilities seriously. She has been given the task of protecting the magic jewel from those who would use it for evil purposes. She is accomplished in the mystic arts and in archery. She is also a young woman and longs for the opportunity to live as one. She believes that Inuyasha will relieve her of her duty, by using the jewel for a good purpose, and then she will no longer be bound by this heavy burden. When she believes that he has taken advantage of her, and betrayed her, the love she has for him turns to hatred and she carries this hatred with her beyond the grave.

There is much that happened before the point where we are first invited into the story. We learn some of this in flashbacks, some in reports from people who were on hand when the events transpired, and some just from odd comments along the way. The young priestess, Kikyo, studied under a master who had other students as well. One of these was Kikyo's superior in many ways and this somewhat older and more accomplished priestess took offense when the jewel was entrusted to Kikyo's care rather than her own. Kikyo apparently had no flaws in her character or her devotion, while the other didn't quite measure up. This other priestess later turned further into darkness and tried to place a curse upon Kikyo, but it was turned back upon her instead. This woman plays a part later in the story.

Inuyasha is one of many who would use the Sacred Jewel for evil purposes. In his case, being a half-demon, he wishes to become a full-fledged demon. He and Kikyo watch each other warily, each knowing that the other is capable of bringing destruction. Eventually, they somehow become friends and even fall in love. Kikyo convinces Inuyasha that he could also become fully human with the jewel, and they could then live together in happiness. They choose a time to meet and carry out this plan, but something changes all of that at the last minute.

Kikyo, being kind of heart, takes on the responsibility of caring for a horribly injured man. This man is rotten to the core, but is obviously dying and will never move from his resting place for the remainder of his life. He lusts for Kikyo and this leads him to strike a bargain with the demons of the world. He will allow them to feed upon his body, in exchange for a chance to have Kikyo. As with any deal made with evil intent, this one goes terribly wrong. The demons do take his body, but they then combine and a new creature emerges; one that still has a lust for Kikyo, but at the same time harbors a hatred of all that is good. It is this new creature that takes on the form of Inuyasha and sets the stage for all that follows. He attacks Kikyo, as Inuyasha, and she in turn seeks to take Inuyasha with her to the grave.

Kikyo died, and was cremated with the jewel, and her ashes and bones were buried. Fifty years later, a witch takes some of the remains and uses them to create a slave, but this new body has no soul. The soul has already been reincarnated as Kagome. So, the witch captures Kagome and tries to force the soul into the artificially constructed body of Kikyo. She succeeds, to a certain extent, and Kikyo is alive again, but she must forever afterward make use of the souls of the newly dead to keep herself in existence. Hereafter, she moves in and out of the story at odd times. She is one of the walking dead, but somehow she is still pure and very powerful. She remains a priestess and a healer. For some time she still carries her hatred of Inuyasha and would like nothing better than to kill him in revenge.

Much is made of the resemblance between Kikyo and Kagome, but I mostly can't see it. Even when Kagome is dressed as Kikyo dressed I don't see it. Kikyo is obviously older, she wears her hair differently, her mannerisms are different, her body is more mature and her speech is more formal and controlled. There are only a couple of times, in the whole series, where I can see a slight resemblance between the two and it's fleeting at best.

She seems to have her own sense of what is right or wrong, and that often proves to be so alien as to be unfathomable. She will sometimes show up just in time to save the day and, at other times, she will lend aid to the great enemy. She is several times seen to be almost certainly destroyed, but she always comes back. The latest example of this is when she gives her life force to Sango's younger brother, in order to allow him to live on when he should have died. Since the story is not yet complete I wonder whether or not we have seen the last of Kikyo.

I find that I don't much care for Kikyo. Yes, she is pretty and she helps those who are wounded in battle, no matter what side of the war they are on. She sometimes comes to the aid of the heroes just in the nick of time. She will sometimes offer an insight that will further the quest and she has a love for children. On the other hand, she has no love for Kagome and is often the reason that Kagome feels lost or confused or trodden upon. She often serves her own ends without regard for what this means to the rest of the world. And let's not forget that she's dead. She only prolongs the semblance of life by borrowing the souls of the newly dead, thereby keeping those souls from passing on to whatever should be next. I'm sure that if our heroes had followed her Soul Collectors and found anyone but Kikyo at the other end, they would have destroyed that person to eliminate this great evil.

She is a bit of a tease. She knows that the bad guy wants her, and she is amused by this. She openly taunts him and dares him to kill her for her cruelty. She knows that she doesn't really want Inuyasha, but she keeps leading him on, much to the detriment of Kagome. To me, if she is finally out of the story, I can only say that it's about time. I grew tired of her long before it happened and I think that a large part of her character could have been attributed to other characters, so as to leave her fully dead and gone. I think she was left in the story only to complicate things and to stir up bad feelings. To have her resurrected once was OK, but when the bad guy stabbed her and flung her off the cliff, that should have been the end of it. Sometimes, pretty is just not enough.